Casual Geography
by Ember A. Keelty
Summary: Rose goes stargazing with Jack and the Doctor, and they teach her about the universe.


Rose lay in the grass on a hill in the middle of nowhere very important. Her nose was cold and a little bit runny, but most of the rest of her was warm enough. On either side of her were her two favorite men in the whole wide universe – and she felt quite confident in thinking that, having been introduced to such a large sample over the past however-long she had spent traveling in the TARDIS. The three of them were huddled close together, sharing the Doctor's jacket as a blanket. "Strictly to defend against the cold, _of course,_" Jack had said with a wink.

The stars were out in full force, shining like white sequins sequins on a sable tapestry. There were no city lights to drown them out. Electric lighting had not even been invented yet. Nor had cities, for that matter.

"How about that one?" Rose asked, picking a star at random and pointing to it. "Tell me about that one."

"What, that one?" The Doctor asked, pointing in the same general direction.

He might have been indicating the same point of light as Rose had, but, just to be sure, she took his hand in hers and guided his finger. "That one, right there."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Not a bad system," he said. "You've got Crystallina over there, the precious gem planet. That's what you lot called it when you 'discovered' it; no one calls it by the local name anymore. There's more corundum there than anywhere else in the known universe. They've got beaches where the sand is made of ground-up rubies and sapphires."

"Mm. Sounds lovely."

"Depends what century you visit in. There was a bit of a rough patch when you lot first arrived. Put most of the natives to work mining. Keep in mind none of the locals'd known that the corundum was valuable. They'd all just thought it was pretty! Now some crazy two-armers were coming in demanding they dig it all up."

"How many arms do the Crystallinians have, then?" Rose asked.

"Six. Anyway, they soon found themselves in economic slavery. The colonists killed off their agricultural industry and made them dependent on imports. That's how they kept them working for cheap. There was a lot of people starving for a while."

"That's dreadful," Rose said, though that sort of thing no longer surprised her much.

"It took a while for the better part of human nature to show up, but it came through in the end. Some of the Sons of Earth moved in and rallied the natives, organizing strikes and demonstrations and such. Meanwhile, the ones on the outside started boycotts. Eventually, the colonists got fed up and pulled out. The Crystallinians were left to themselves, only now they had the technology for interstellar trade, _and_ they knew what their sparkly little rocks were worth. Within a few decades of self-rule, they became one of the most prosperous peoples in the galaxy."

"Oh, good," Rose said sleepily. "I _like_ happy endings." Then she yawned and rolled over onto her side to face Jack. "Your turn, Captain. You ever been there?"

"Why, yes I have!" he told her.

"And?" This, Rose had found, was the more fun part of the conversation. "What are these Crystallinians _really_ like?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You lot and your one-track minds. Why do I feel like you only listen to me so you can get to him?" Rose elbowed him. He elbowed her back, but said no more.

"Well, it's not the paradise _he_ makes it out to be, that's for sure," Jack said. "For one thing, the men have barbs."

Rose stared at him in disbelief. "Barbs?"

"You know. Hooks."

"The men have _hooks_?" She burst out laughing. "Oh my God! That's... new. I hope you didn't have to find out the hard way."

Jack did not reply.

"Well, what about the women? What are they like?"

"Rose!" said the Doctor.

"I didn't get to find out," said Jack.

"Really? Why not?"

"_Rose!_" said the Doctor.

"Well, if all the men _you_ knew had hooks, how do you think _you'd_ feel about sex?"

"Ah. "

"You certainly wouldn't be as fascinated by it as you seem to be now," the Doctor mumbled.

Rose rolled back to face him and smiled sweetly. "All right, all right," she said. "It's your turn again, you can stop grousing." Then she reached out over his head to point out another star. "Tell me about that one.


End file.
